The present invention relates to a dispenser/spreader article for applying and spreading paste materials, such as spackling, pastes, adhesive and other viscous materials as defined below.
For possibly centuries, holes and imperfections in walls have been repaired using a scraping/spreading implement and a filling, repair substance. A modern tool of choice is, of course, a metal xe2x80x9cputty knifexe2x80x9d, which is generally resilient and about 1 to 6 inches wide. Typically, a worker scoops out a quantity of spackling material from a container using the tool, and applies the spackling material directly to a wall. For this process to work properly, the nature of spackling material in containers requires it to be more solid than liquid, but also requires that the spackling material be pasty/sticky and not too dry. At the same time, the spackling material must preferably dry quickly, so that subsequent finishing operations, such as sanding, can be completed soon after application. Disposal of unused spackling is messy and wasteful. At the same time, it is typically undesirable to put excess spackling material back into a tub because the excess spackling material can taint the whole tub with fuzz, hair, dirt, and of course, mostly-dry spackling material. When a tub runs low of material, such as at the end of a job, the material in the tub tends to dry out and/or get debris in it, such that it then contains mostly unusable spackling material, which ultimately ends up going into the trashcan. It is fair to say that the above repair method is very often quite wasteful.
Spackling materials are especially difficult to deal with since they are more viscous and more prone to drying and clumping than many creams and adhesives/caulking compounds. Further, spackling materials (by design) tend to dry quickly and skin over and/or form crusts or cake-like clumps that render the material difficult to apply. Thus, spackling materials are notorious for not flowing well through long or narrow channels. This makes sense since the spackling materials are intended to plug up and cover holes, cracks, and crevices. However, this property makes dispensing of spackling materials more difficult.
One proposed method to improve the process of applying spackling materials is to use a collapsible tube filled with diluted spackling material. These tubes have long narrow spouts which are to be cut to allow the spackling to be dispensed wherever desired by squeezing the tube and applying directly to the crack or nail hole, or by placing the dispensing spout directly at the best spot on the blade. Excess spackling can then be wiped off with a putty knife, leaving a nice smooth surface. A problem is that the long narrow spouts require diluted spackling material so that the spackling material can be dispensed through the long narrow passageways of the spouts. As a result, the diluted low-viscosity spackling doesn""t work well on larger holes and cracks, since it sags and/or shrinks unacceptably upon drying.
Another effort at improving the repair process was recently introduced by the Dap Company as the Patch Stick(copyright) product. This product utilized a xe2x80x9cpush-upxe2x80x9d tube as the dispensing device. Push-up tubes dispense by turning a knob clockwise at the bottom, which forces a plunger inside to move upward, thus forcing the material inside to exit out the opposite open end. A very desirable feature of push-up tubes is that twisting counterclockwise can xe2x80x9csuck backxe2x80x9d some of the dispensed material. Push-up tubes have been used for years with solid underarm deodorant, glue, lip balm, lipstick, sun block, solid pre-wash stain treatments, etc. However, push-up tubes are expensive since they require uniquely shaped parts with tight tolerances that interact to provide the push-up action. Also, the cap spreader of the tube is awkward to hold and is not necessarily optimally shaped for use as a firm grip when spreading spackling material. Further, material that is sucked back into the tube can be contaminated, leading to problems at a time when the consumer expects to be able to reuse the product, causing frustration of the worker/user. The Patch Stick(copyright) instructions suggest removing its tall hollow cap, twisting the bottom to dispense some spackling from the top, rubbing the spackling onto the hole or crack, and scraping off excess material with the cap. Alternatively, the cap can be used to scrape off spackling from the tube and then apply the dispensed material to the wall. This system works very similarly to the collapsible tube method previously described, but has the advantage of the tube being rigid. Moreover, when the collapsible tube is almost empty, the collapsible tube is more difficult to grip than the stiff-sided push-up tube. This leads to substantial waste, since partially-filled collapsible tubes are discarded.
A serious problem with the Dap Patch Stick(copyright) product that was tested, is that, as the spackling material is dispensed and used, the spackling tends to become drier and therefore less cohesive. Upon close examination, it was discovered that the seal at a rear end of the tube fits snugly and rather airtight only when the tube is full. When partially emptied, air enters into the space behind the plunger and allows drying of the spackling. Another source of moisture loss is at the top where the xe2x80x9csealxe2x80x9d is not bonded, but merely lying on the spackling material. This allows the air in the hollow cap to dry the exposed spackling material. Drier spackling material tends to crumble, lose its plastic nature, and not adhere properly to the wall or spreader cap.
The prior art that combined a spreader blade with a material supply of paste that I, the inventor, investigated included one or more of the following negative features: 1) a narrow or long channel that was not well-suited for nor usable for dispensing spackling or adhesive paste; 2) an obstruction to the dispensing hole or dispensing area that impedes or prevents wiping the dispensing area clean for subsequent later use of the apparatus; 3) no plug or seal that adequately prevents material at the dispensing site from drying out; 4) no docking location for any such plug, nor for convenient storage of a sealing plug so that it does not get lost while using the apparatus; 5) prior art uses a cylindrical tube which requires or includes a long dispensing channel and which does not provide an ergonomic handle; 6) no straight, smooth scraping edge with squared or relatively-sharp corners to facilitate application of the spackling material to concave edges and corners; 7) no resilient blade that does a good job of simulating a putty-knife blade with proper memory and resiliency of the blade; and 8) prior art tends to be limited to a single use only due to drying of spackling material around the dispensing location or due to contamination (i.e. dust, debris, insect remains, etc.) of spackling material sucked back or back-mixed with the spackling material in the apparatus.
Accordingly, an automated apparatus is desired that provides the advantages noted above and that solves the disadvantages.
In one aspect of the present invention, an article includes a spreader with a sealed container forming a blade at one end and having a dispensing opening for dispensing paste material from the container onto the blade and still further including a docking structure remote from the dispensing opening, the sealed container being adapted to be filled with the paste material and to dispense the paste material therefrom onto the blade. The article further includes a removable plug shaped to sealingly engage the opening, and further shaped to engage the docking structure for storage while the article is being used to apply and spread the paste material with the blade.
In another aspect of the present invention, an article includes a spreader comprising a resilient sheet and a deformable sheet bonded together and shaped to form a blister-shaped sealed container therebetween, with the sealed container being adapted to contain spackling material. The resilient sheet forms a blade at one end suitable for spreading the spackling material and further forms an opening at the one end for dispensing the spackling material onto the blade. A docking station formed on the resilient sheet replicates the opening and is located away from the blade and opening, so that the docking station is adapted to hold a plug for the opening on the spreader without interfering with dispensing spackling material onto the blade and without interfering with using the article including the blade.
In another aspect of the present invention, an article includes a resilient sheet and a deformable sheet bonded together to form a blister-shaped container, with the resilient sheet having an enlarged blade formed at one end and a dispenser hole also formed at the one end for dispensing material from the container onto the blade. A plug is provided that is shaped to fit sealingly into the dispenser hole to maintain an airtight seal of the container. The plug is also shaped to fit into the holder hole for storage while using the article to spread a substance dispensed from the container.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, an article includes a resilient sheet and a deformable sheet bonded together to form a blister-shaped container. The resilient sheet has a first section forming part of the container with a first width, and further has a second section with a second width larger than the first width that forms an enlarged blade for spreading material dispensed from the container. The second section further includes a dispenser hole also formed at the one end for dispensing material from the container onto the blade.
In still another aspect of the present invention, an article includes a resilient sheet and a deformable sheet bonded together and shaped to form a plurality of blister-shaped sealed containers therebetween. The containers each include a wide end and a narrow end. Paste material, sensitive to drying or curing upon exposure to atmosphere, fills each of the containers. The resilient sheet includes an opening in the enlarged end of each of the containers for dispensing the paste material onto the enlarged end, and includes a docking station in the narrow end shaped to simulate the opening and that is located remotely from the enlarged end and the opening. By this arrangement, a plug for the opening can be held by the docking station on each individual spreader without interfering with dispensing paste material onto the enlarged end and without interfering with using the enlarged end to spread the paste material.
In a narrower aspect, the resilient sheet defined above is partially die-cut to define a plurality of individual dispenser/spreader articles from the bonded deformable and resilient sheets, with the separable dispenser/spreader articles each including one of the blister-shaped scaled containers and each further including a wide end forming a blade and a narrow end forming part of the sealed container. The wide end of each adjacent separable article is located near the narrow end on the adjacent separate article to provide a dense arrangement of articles on the deformable and resilient sheets prior to separation.
My testing and experimentation has found that an apparatus providing the following characteristics would be very desirable. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to include one or more or all of the following characteristics: 1) simple, one-handed operation; 2) a resilient blade similar to the feel of a steel putty knife; 3) economical to make and use; 4) disposable; 5) airtight to preserve plasticity and fluidity of the spackling material; 6) no unacceptably small channel or restriction through which the heavy-bodied spackling and adhesive pastes must be forced; 7) straight edged blade with 90xc2x0 corners; 8) reusable plug that is dockable on the device; and 9) use of the device should leave the repaired hole area smooth and unblemished, not needing to be sanded.
These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present invention will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.